Nissan Recalls 2014: 52,000 Cars Recalled for Explosive Airbags

More than 52,000 cars have been recalled by Nissan Motor Co. due to the vehicles' faulty air bags, the company said on Saturday.

The Associated Press reported that the air bags made by Takata Corp., a supplier based in Japan, have the possibility of exploding if given too much force and throwing sharp pieces of metal to the passenger compartment.

The Nissan recall is just one of the several recalls made comprising of almost eight million other vehicles. At least 10 other automakers have recalled due to Takata's air bags.

Fox News said that Takata Corp. supplies more than 20 percent of the air bag market globally. To be exact, a total of 52,738 Nissan vehicles will be affected by this recall.

According to Bloomberg, the models that have been recalled by Nissan were sold in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, as well as Puerto Rico, Hawaii, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Saipan and American Samoa.

AP said these areas have high humidity which "can cause the air bag propellant to burn too fast and potentially blow apart the metal canisters."

Earlier, Honda Motor Co. has also issued a recall in areas with high humidity citing a similar defective Takata air bag inflators, Bloomberg said. The faulty air bags have been pointed as the reason for the deaths of at least four people. 

Nissan models that will be affected by the recent recall include Nissan Pathfinders from 2003 and 2004, Nissan Sentras from 2004 to 2006, Infiniti FX35 from 2003 to 2005, Infiniti FX45 from 2003 to 2005, Infiniti I35 from 2003 and 2004, Infiniti M35 from 2006, and Infiniti M45 from 2006.

Fox News said that Nissan have already issued an earlier recall that involved two other Infiniti models. These are the Infiniti QX56 SUVs from 2013 and the Infiniti QX80 from 2014. At least 1,800 of these models have been recalled due to the defective Takata air bags.

Owners of recalled Nissan models, including those that have been announced earlier, will be notified. Fox News also reported that Nissan promised to change the air bag inflators for free.

Aside from these models, Bloomberg said that the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also now evaluating Nissan's 2008 Infiniti EX35 sport utility vehicles after receiving at least complaints about its steering shaft. The complaint said that there are times that the steering shaft separates while it is being operated, causing a loss of steering control. Around 17,000 sports utility vehicles may be affected, it was learned.

To date, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is still conducting a probe on whether auto companies have acted and recalled cars that have allegedly had the defective air bags, Fox News said.

To check if your vehicle is one of those that have been recalled by Nissan, you can check out this site. All you have to do is to enter your 17-digit Nissan vehicle identification number. The information in the recall checker is updated and you can search all the way back to March 1994. You can check for other Nissan recalls here.